Northampton Saints have received the backing of the Conservative group of Northampton Borough Council for their proposed deal with ASDA to secure financing for a new North Stand at Franklin's Gardens.
In his programme notes for last Sunday's Heineken Cup game against Perpignan, club chairman Keith Barwell revealed that he had received a letter from Councillor David Palethorpe, who leads the Conservative group on Northampton Borough Council, supporting the idea of a new food store at Franklin's Gardens.
Cllr Palethorpe wrote: 'Over recent months I have made various statements in the press explaining that it is both practicable and desirable for there to be limited out of town retail development around Northampton, and that the Borough Council's stubborn adherence to their "town centre first" policy is strangling the economic development of this town.
'I recognise of course that the development of the town centre is of great significance to the future prosperity of Northampton, and that we must focus on supporting existing businesses as well as attracting new ones, but I firmly believe that a parallel approach of town centre and out of town development would send the right message to potential investors and ultimately be of benefit to everyone.'
Northampton Saints is the only Guinness Premiership rugby club to consistently financially stand on its own two feet and to have been profitable for each one of the last nine years. Unlike the vast majority of Guinness Premiership clubs the Saints is not reliant on a single benefactor and has over 2,000 individual shareholders.
The deal between the Saints and ASDA, announced in May 2009, would allow the club to continue its financial independence.
The proposed ASDA food store would represent a £40 million investment into west Northampton. It would serve the areas of Sixfields, St James and Upton, itself identified as a major residential growth area that has just one mid-sized supermarket within easy reach. The proposed ASDA would provide up to 400 jobs, as well as jobs during the construction period, in addition to more choice for local consumers.
The proposed development of Franklin's Gardens would cost in the region of £7 million, including £1 million on a new 1,000 space car park that would see the number of car parking spaces at the stadium increase. The capacity of Franklin's Gardens would increase from its present 13,500 to 17,000. At present the club does not have an alternative source of funding for the proposed new North Stand.
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